Well, my 67 327 car has been sitting in the garage during this wet weather. I've picked up things here & there to do a top end swap on the motor while I build a 468 motor for it next year. The show season is about to start and I purchased an aluminum radiator for the car. For some reason, my car is always pissing coolant when I park it. I've bought a new radiator cap, checked the radiator, need to add a coolant bottle, but nothing special.


So Friday night I decide Saturday morning I'll get up and swap out the radiator and do the motor later on. Saturday I'm outside late. Pull the shroud & radiator and see 2 areas of leaking. So it wasn't holding any pressure. NOW that the radiator is out and I can clearly see the motor .... I started pulling it apart. The front seal on the intake was leaking. Thermostat housing was dripping. So I just started taking everything off. To clean up and put back on. Then I thought, maybe change my water pump while it's out in the open?


Well, it's almost down to a short block in the car. LOL. I'll pull the heads tonight or tomorrow night. I really want to see the pistons & cylinder walls. SO FAR this thing is showing signs that it was recently rebuilt. VERY clean inside the motor. So I'm hoping they went with flat tops and if everything looks good, I'll just do the top end swap and be done with it. BUT if I have to pull it? Then I'll go all the way with it.


So, are you like me? Or am I alone on this one?

 

leaks no leaks but i burn a few ounces of coolant in the summer mostly about 32 ounces a year ,but was told thats normal for a 400 sbc,no problems in my 3rd year ,i run a 3 core rad too

 

You mean you can't leave well enuf alone? Cuz I'm totally that.

 

HAAAAAA yes 80sz that's exactly what I mean.


I have a 468 in the shop that I'm building. A friend of my son's father-in-law is moving up here around the end of June or July and he was a crew chief for some good running racers and boater and even raced himself. Now I've already got 70% of what I need for this motor, but I'd had to go buy the last 30% and then have this guy go "well, I have boxes and boxes of parts you could have had" ... so I thought I'd just build this stock motor up a little bit.


My aluminum radiator is supposed to be a 4 core that I bought to run my BBC once I put it in the car. I hate to buy the same thing twice.


Anyway, thanks for the answers guys. Oh, 96 Camaro 406 - I've only got a 327 and it would lose like a cup after driving around for awhile. I tried to do a pressure test on the radiator with a friends make shift adapter for my compression tester gauge, but I'm sure it didn't work since I found 2 little spots after pulling off the shroud.


Well, work is over and it's time to pull a couple of HEADS so I can see if this is gonna be a good night? Or if I just opened up a can of worms.

 

if it aint brock dont fix it was allways my modo,but things like doing upper ball joints after replaceing my shocks ,an or lowers too,but no not like that i think there is to much work to do without creating it,this year i got 4 cars to work on ,so maint is high on the list ,things i want to do come after that ,but still like 20 year old parts that need replaceing anyway, as far as my engine its just normal,unless it becomes alot more it comes right out of the overflow is where it disapears from as its not pressurized,so i add few ounces to the overflow every now in them moslty in summer ,an i change it every 2 years will be now too coolant that is next year,but yes i have friends that do what you do just to be sure i guess if time has passed

 

I hear you 406. I'm a BIG maintenance guy. Do as much as it takes up front so I don't have to do a lot at the end.


Well, I just figure if you take something off, and you are "right there" anyway, and you plan on doing "that" thing in the future, why not just do it now while you are there? To save you from doing that same labor twice?


That's good you change your coolant every two years. You are only the 2nd-3rd person I know that does that. Right on.


Well, I pulled the heads last night. Very happy to see flat top pistons in this thing. I don't know what comes stock on the 210 base motor, but I was expecting to see a dish top. After pulling the first head (pass side) all of the cylinders looked awesome. I could still see the cross hatch pattern of the hone job. =) Then I pulled the driver side and wasn't happy to see those cylinders. It "looks" like I can see wear lines. I couldn't feel them last night (but it was too cold out) so tonight after work I'm going to take a real hard look. I was hoping everything would be good and I could just do the top end swap. N O W I'm thinking I might have to pull the motor and just give it a quick hone job and re-ring it. Of course new gaskets & seals to freshen it up. I will pull the lifters out tonight and try and get a good look at the cam. That is what will make up my mind. I think. Lol.


Well thanks for sharing 406. I like your car. It's a bit newer than I like, but I was trying to talk the wife into a new ZL1-1LE so I could have a '67 and then 50 yrs later a '17. But she wasn't going for it. Lol.

 

Thats me. i took mine to work just to have the Qjet rebuilt. i ended up changing to a EPS intake,750 Holley,GM Performance dress up kit,chrome pullys,fuel pump,wires,looms,then ended up putting a Yukon 355 posi unit in. I get it but the Mrs. didn't.

 

Ha. Twohats that looks sweet. Nice work.


Yeah, the wife just doesn't always get it. Like now, do I build this 327 up a little? Since I'm putting in a Big Block next year anyway. Shouldn't I spend the money on just 1 motor? Ha ha ha. I've already spent thousands on that "other motor" so what's a few more bucks?


No, but really. I need to put 275-325 HP in the car now to test the new tranny and rear end that's being built. I've also spent tons on CPPs Big Brake Kit plus tubular control arms, shocks, exhaust, etc., etc. AND the wife wants me to find 2 more cars. A '68 and a '69 so I can have all 3 years. So "why" wouldn't I want to have a decent spare motor sitting in the garage incase one of these "next" projects just needs a motor to run it around from shop to shop? Sounds about right to me. LOL.

 

Thats Awesome. i have a 58 Pontiac Catalina Coupe as well. I have mentioned another Classic car all I got was a grin and a head shake.lol So I bought a 1952 Ford tractor for driveway work, still a Classic..lol.I will probably restore that too..lol. Good luck on the builds..

 

thanks mike looks like things are going well for you though you may not know about my gen 1 engine ,what a change there 2 hats nice look there ,i like things looking new too great job. most popular pic i have is of the 406 an some think it belongs there till you tell them or they just know it had an lt1 in it at one time